Carasthornian Nights

Tensions Rise

The party is received by the Vaderan court, which accepts the relic and rewards them. However, the eladrin are made to feel extremely unwelcome. It seems there is some ancient prejudice against the fair folk in this kingdom. Perhaps it stems from the competing claims to this relic the party recovered, but no one is certain. The party needs time to rest and recover, but are afraid to overstay their welcome.

Soon however, they are approached by the Duc St. Germaine, one of the Council of Eight, the chief advisers to the Queen. He hires/recruits them to infiltrate into the neighboring kingdom Carasthorn to seek out and rescue his missing bastard son. Carasthorn is the last remnant of the ancient Dragon Empires and known to many simply as the Dragon Kingdom. Vadera has long been at war with Carasthorn, a war that has run hot and cold for many decades and is currently in one of its periodic cease-fires. His son disappeared in Carasthorn a few weeks ago, and he has been unable to get any information through official channels, and dares not send any Vaderans for fear of reigniting the war. His son, Damien D’Montford went to Carasthorn in the guise of Grey Malkin, a grain merchant, and had been sending messages back to St. Germaine, but those messages stopped suddenly.

St. Germaine does warn them that if they are discovered to be Vaderan agents, they may well be put to death in a very public execution and be used as scapegoats by the hawkish members of Carasthorn’s leaders to reignite the war. Discretion is of the utmost importance. The party agrees, and of course the duke offers to send one of his other non-native agents, a boisterous and drunken letch of a dwarf named Telchar (fighter)-just what they needed to be inconspicuous.

They manage to sneak across the border posing as merchants and make their way to Narakon, the new capital city of Carasthorn. Along the way, they are hunted by a pack of wolves led by a werewolf, who try to capture Dawn for some unknown nefarious reason. They drive off the pack, and make their way into Carasthorn.

There they use their cover as merchants to seek out their associate Grey Malkin. In their investigation they learn that Grey Malkin/Damien D’Montford had fallen in love with a member of the Carasthornian royal family, and their efforts reveal a sinister plot reaching to the highest levels of the Carasthorn nobility and military. The details of the plot are sketchy, but they place both Damien D’Montford and his love, the Carasthorn princess Felicaria in danger.

While in Narakon, Dawn attracts the attention of a particularly sociable dragon, and learns that she is some sort of “conduit” to a divine source of power, and that she seems to draw an undue amount of attention from wolves and the were-creatures of the wild. Telchar makes a name for himself in the pit fights, and in so doing gains an ally among the Carasthornian guard.

It seems the capital is a morass of partisan politics and factional divides, a steaming mess that Damien has gotten himself wrapped up in. Still, the party manages to find and rescue Damien, along with his lover, the Princess Felicaria, and they all return to Vadera.